2009 International Engine of the Year Winners Announced

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While not nearly so popular as the International Automobile of the Year Awards, once annually a jury of 65 automotive journalists from 30 countries gets together to decide what the best engines are. The International Engine of the Year Awards celebrate engine technology, giving honors to engines in 12 specific categories, including the overall International Engine of the Year award.

This year the top position went to Volkswagen for its TSI Twincharger, which can be found in Volkswagens like the Golf, Scirocco, Eos, Jetta, Touran, Tiguan and the Seat Ibiza Cupra. It makes 178hp and 177 ft-lbs of torque from a turbocharged and supercharged 1.4-liter four-cylinder. That is an impressive 127.1 horsepower per liter. Possibly even more impressive, the engine gets an average fuel-economy rating of 45.5 mpg.

Impressively the TSI Twincharger was noted for winning favor with journalists outside Europe, including North America, Asia and South America. American Matt Davis said that, “Volkswagen’s 1.4-liter TSI EA111 is still way ahead of the curve, sensationally over-engineered in all the right ways, and even makes the company’s fantastic 2-litre TFSI already look like yesterday’s tech.”

With those figures the TSI Twincharger also claimed the award for best engine in the 1.0- to 1.4-liter class, as well as the Green Engine of the year class. It also unseated the BMW twin-turbo 3.0-liter engine, which took the top honors in both 2007 and 2008.

In total, German automakers look awards in 11 of the 12 spots with Toyota the lone exception in the Sub 1.0-liter Class for it’s 1.0-liter three-cylinder, which can be found in the Aygo, IQ, Yaris/Vitz, Citroën C1, Peugeot 107 and Subaru Justy.

The award for Best New Engine of the Year went to Porsche for its direct-injection 3.8-liter flat-six, while the Best Performance Engine award was won by the Mercedes/AMG 6.2-liter V8.

Follow the jump for a full-list of the 2009 International Engine of the Year winners: